pharmaceuticals – Healing Nowhttp://blog.chron.com/healingnow
Exploring the connection between health, thought, and spirituality with Keith Wommack.Wed, 19 Oct 2016 14:28:10 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.6.151011920The Placebo Effect: Perspectives From Experts in the Fieldhttp://blog.chron.com/healingnow/2013/01/the-placebo-effect-perspectives-from-experts-in-the-field/
http://blog.chron.com/healingnow/2013/01/the-placebo-effect-perspectives-from-experts-in-the-field/#commentsFri, 25 Jan 2013 02:42:34 +0000http://blog.chron.com/healingnow/?p=2123“Explosive” was the word 60 Minutes reporter Leslie Stahl used to describe the scientific conclusions of Harvard’s Dr Irving Kirsch in the episode titled “Treating Depression, Is there a placebo effect?,” which aired February 19, 2012. Dr Kirsch, the associate director of the Program in Placebo Studies and the Therapeutic Encounter hosted at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center affiliated with Harvard Medical School, stated that any benefit from antidepressants is from the patient’s belief in the drug and not from the drug’s chemical composition.
Given the legions of patients spending a combined billions of dollars each year on antidepressants, Dr Kirsch’s research and the 60 Minutes interview have caused patients and members of the medical community to reconsider the treatment of depression. (The episode also cautioned, “If you're already on these powerful drugs, you shouldn't stop taking them on your own.”)
In May, Dr Kirsch was a featured speaker at the 2012 International Research Congress on Integrative Medicine and Health (IRCIMH) in Portland, Oregon. More than a thousand attendees, physicians, and scientists from 23 countries heard Dr Kirsch share his findings that antidepressants, when used in cases of in mild to moderate depression, have no statistically measurable effect.
I have always been interested in the mental nature of health, and I attended Dr Kirsch’s presentation in Portland and met with him the next morning to discuss his work.]]>http://blog.chron.com/healingnow/2013/01/the-placebo-effect-perspectives-from-experts-in-the-field/feed/12123